Dick Van Dyke

Since I was a little kid I have been a fan of Dick Van Dyke. I remember watching the Dick Van Dyke Show on KPHO in Phoenix. It was on weekdays at 12 noon. It was funny. I liked the characters and it was really, really well written. All these things I knew nothing about. It was funny and it made me feel good to watch the show. It was a reliable old friend to hang out with in the middle of the hot summer days.

I recently bought all 5 seasons of the DVD show on DVD. So as the summer TV is all repeats I will pop a disc in and watch 4-6 shows. I never really knew what order they were in because the show was not shown in order when I was a kid. The show still makes me laugh out loud. It has a timeless quality to it. Though it was shot in the early 1960's there are no obvious references that set it in the 60's. They never mention the music, or television or movies of the time. It was planned by Carl Reiner to be that way. You could go for a cheap laugh with a Beatles reference, but then it places the show in a specific time in the culture. The situational humor is all stuff that is relatable to a family right now. It involves work, home life, & kids. All the things that humans do and find difficult and get insecure about. It is the human condition. And after a 5 year run they ended the show on top. There was no decline as ideas and performers got stale. It wasn't about wringing every last cent out of a show, it was about producing a great, funny show.

I was watching Seinfeld recently. It seems very dated with some of the humor. It was very 90's specific. I never noticed it but it seems the best shows avoid dating themselves with time sensitive material. A Beiber joke now might be funny and timely, but what happens when Beiber becomes Leif Garrett?

I recently bought and read DVD's autobiography. There were large portions about the DVD show. It was interesting to read about the show I was currently going thru. Certain episodes were mentioned and I had seen them only days before so they were still fresh in my mind. He also talks about his movie career and other television shows he did.

He also talked about being an alcoholic. Even now most people didn't know he was an alcoholic. He wasn't a bad drunk like you get with some hollywood types today. He was an at home drunk. He also smoked like a chimney, which is funny since one of his most famous roles is as a chimney sweep in Mary Poppins.

What I did learn was he was optimistic about things and kind of fell into this great life of performing without too much planning. Some early opportunities he chose because he had a family and needed the money to feed and shelter them. He almost retired from performing half a dozen times, but kept coming back to it because it was fun. Which is the best reason to be a performer.

Just watching his performances you can see he is having a blast.